Fractured by Teri Terry

Summary: Super follow-up to Slated - in a near-future authoritarian Britain, Kyla fights to regain her memories after her personality has been fractured. AGAIN. Intelligent, fast-paced and thought-provoking. What more could you want?

As a teen criminal in Lorder-run Britain, Kyla was slated - her memories erased and her personality "reset". But Kyla wasn't like the other Slateds - she retained tantalising memories of her previous life. Fractured picks up Kyla's story after she's lost Ben and just as a mysterious man from her past comes back into her life. It seems that Kyla's memories represent more than just a failed slating. She has a role to play in the fight against the Lorders. But it's not as easy as that. Is Kyla a victim? A freedom fighter? A terrorist? And can the end ever justify the means? The more Kyla learns about her history, the more such questions burn. And the more danger she finds herself in...

So, as you can see, this Slated series is not shaping up to be a simple tale of good and evil. I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I don't think I will by saying that Kyla is going to have to face up to the fact the the Lorders don't have a monopoly on cruelty and violence and that she has been manipulated by more people than she thought. For a girl whose personality and memories have been erased, this is particularly difficult to understand and accept. Even more so, because Kyla doesn't know who she can trust. There aren't many trustworthy people in this version of a future Britain.

Many of the scenes and conversations in the book are exercises in confirmation bias - but, confusingly, for the reader and for Kyla, it's not always the same bias. It's all very clever and tremendously absorbing. You have to pity this girl, who has been used and abused by just about everyone, who is clutching at the flimsiest remaining wisps of her true personality. But you also have to admire Kyla because she has such intelligence and never gives up, whichever part of her is uppermost at the time.

I enjoyed Slated and I enjoyed Fractured just as much, especially because it didn't just give me more of the same. It's intelligent, carefully thought through, tense and moreish. I read it in just a couple of longer-than-intended sittings and I can't wait to see what happens next.

You might also enjoy The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna, the thought-provoking story about an "echo" - a clone brought up to be a replacement for a living person should they ever die. There's also Unwind by Neal Shusterman, a powerful, shocking, and intelligent novel about a future which practises retroactive abortion on troublesome teenagers, then uses their body parts for transplant.

You can read more book reviews or buy Fractured by Teri Terry at Amazon.co.uk

You can read more book reviews or buy Fractured by Teri Terry at Amazon.com.